P oecd best Practice Principles for Regulatory Policy The Governance of Regulators
THE GOVERNANCE OF REGULATORS © OECD 2014
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| 81 THE GOVERNANCE OF REGULATORS © OECD 2014 Accountability and transparency to ministers and the legislature Accountability and transparency is the other side of the coin of independence and a balance is required between the two. Comprehensive accountability and transparency measures actively support good behaviour and performance by the regulator, as they allow the regulator’s performance to be assessed by the legislature or responsible other authority. The Australian National Audit Office has also argued that Increasing the transparency of, and regulated entities confidence in, the regulatory regime, can be expected to increase the level of voluntary compliance. This has the potential to reduce administrative costs for regulators and compliance costs for regulated entities (ANAO, 2007, p. 25). The regulator exists to achieve objectives deemed by government and the legislator to be in the public interest and operates within the powers attributed by the legislature. A regulator is therefore accountable to the legislature, either directly or through its minister, and should report regularly and publicly to the legislature on its objectives and the discharge of its functions, and demonstrate that it is efficiently and effectively discharging its responsibilities with integrity, honesty and objectivity (OECD, 2012; Department of Public Enterprise, 2000). A system of accountability that supports this ideal needs to clearly define what the regulator is to beheld accountable for, how it is to conduct itself and how this will be assessed. The judiciary should help ensure that the regulator operates within the powers attributed to it. The regulator has a responsibility to the regulated entities to exercise its powers in away that increases confidence in the market, rule of law and in general trust in the state. At the same time the regulator is also answerable to the public for how it makes use of its powers and for the way in which it exercises them and whether it achieves the policy goals it is intended to exist for. Download 1.83 Mb. Share with your friends:
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